Baldur's Gate Baldur's Gate 2 is vastly overrated

[Volrath]

While the narrative details can be argued about, the entire journey was awesome... especially to a 10 year old.

Are you saying you beat BG2 at 10 years old? Are you a russian chess grandmaster too?

They don't call it baby's first RPG for nothing.

 

[ItsChon]

Baldur's Gate is far superior to Baldur's Gate II. Where is Lilura when you need her.

 

[perfectslumbers]

BG2's writing is nothing amazing but it absolutely shits on the writing of most games (or even movies or television) that come out nowadays.

 

[smaug]

Baldur's Gate is far superior to Baldur's Gate II. Where is Lilura when you need her.

I hate this discussion because both games are shit although for different reasons. BG2 was BioWare’s overreaction to the criticism’s of the first game. I think the best additions were the updated companions (regardless of whether you liked them or not) and mid-level D&D’s combat complexity is a bit more interesting than BG1’s mostly banal fights. Too bad all the other additions were just poorly implemented.

 

[NJClaw]

While the narrative details can be argued about, the entire journey was awesome... especially to a 10 year old.

Are you saying you beat BG2 at 10 years old? Are you a russian chess grandmaster too?

You seriously think a 10-year-old can't beat BG2? How hard do you think it is to select the blue spells, click on your characters, and then select the red spells and click in the general direction of your enemies?

 

[JarlFrank]

People who think 10 year olds can't beat games probably didn't play games when they were 10 years old.

 

[d1r]

People who think 10 year olds can't beat games probably didn't play games when they were 10 years old.

Todays ten year olds definitely don't have the attention span for BG2, that's for sure.

 

[JarlFrank]

I played through BG2 at 12 even though I didn't understand D&D rules (didn't have a manual, it was a pirated copy, and games I played before that had higher armor be better so I never equipped armor as it reduced my AC).

Back then I was mostly a pirate, getting my games from a Romanian friend.
The games were in English, and I was nowhere near fluent in the language yet.
We didn't have manuals, just raw burned CDs with the game's installer on them.
We even had to properly install a crack before the game would work!

Yet we managed to finish all these complex RPGs just by intuition alone.

Even modern kids could do it if their parents were less retarded and less helicoptery.

 

[Vic]

I played through BG2 at 12 even though I didn't understand D&D rules (didn't have a manual, it was a pirated copy, and games I played before that had higher armor be better so I never equipped armor as it reduced my AC).

Back then I was mostly a pirate, getting my games from a Romanian friend.
The games were in English, and I was nowhere near fluent in the language yet.
We didn't have manuals, just raw burned CDs with the game's installer on them.
We even had to properly install a crack before the game would work!

Yet we managed to finish all these complex RPGs just by intuition alone.

Even modern kids could do it if their parents were less retarded and less helicoptery.

did you use cheats?

 

[Beans00]

While the narrative details can be argued about, the entire journey was awesome... especially to a 10 year old.

Are you saying you beat BG2 at 10 years old? Are you a russian chess grandmaster too?

I'm born in 92, I played and beat bg1 before bg2 was released(so 8-9 years old), and I beat bg2 maybe a year after it was released by the time TOB was out(so again 9-10 years old)

Never dropped the difficulty lower then normal, they aren't hard games. BG1 the only fights I recall giving me trouble was the boss of the cloakwood mines, the bounty hunter in beregost early game and the stupid cultist battle AFTER you beat durlogs tower when you go back to town. Obviously lots of deaths to various fire and frost arrows but those don't really count.

BG2 had much more artificial difficulty, enemies that could only be harmed by x type of damage, or only normal weapons, or only +3 or +4 weapons(the balrog thing in the underdark). Spellcaster fights were never hard just rock paper scissors shit.
I remember some of the early game lich's giving me the most reloads, and the end game (the elf city with all those stupid golems and hell) being annoying. TOB was very cancer but by that point you're pretty OP yourself so it wasn't particularly difficult just tedious.




Whenever I read people talk about the baldurs gate games being difficult I get genuinely flabbergasted. I wouldn't say I'm particularly good or bad at games but to me these were always easy tier. Like do people not understand you just need to throw buffs on yourself then rest and throw more buffs on? That's 90% of success in the IE games. I mentioned on some other thread I knocked out bg1/2 ee(I replayed them a year or two ago) in 45 hours each on the hardest difficulty and rusty_shackleford seemed to take this really personally and started doing his forum spamming thing and started crying about how I rushed through the game?

Like if you take longer then 50 hours to play these games and 80-90% complete them on the hardest difficulty you're either
A) Haven't played any rpg's before in which case fair enough
B) Actually retarded, either because you suck or read at the level of a 6 year old.



I had a game on my super nintendo called Demon's crest, kind of a metroid/castlevania/megaman hybrid by capcom, good game. That game legitimately took me longer to beat through all my deaths and reloads then both baldurs gates combined around the same age.

 

[Vic]

I’m impressed

BG2 was the first RPG I remember playing and honestly I don’t think I’ve made it out of Irenicus’ dungeon.

Then again, I only got into RPGs later in life and RTS games is what I loved playing as a kid before I discovered MMOs.

Maybe I’m underestimating how smart kids are. Because I did beat Age of Mythology and other RTSs around that time. Loved the greek hero stories.

I mentioned on some other thread I knocked out bg1/2 ee(I replayed them a year or two ago) in 45 hours each on the hardest difficulty and @rusty_shackleford seemed to take this really personally and started doing his forum spamming thing and started crying about how I rushed through the game?

sounds like rusty alright

 

[Beans00]

PC Rpgs aren't games I've ever found particularly difficult. I should say I never played any wizardry or ultima games or goldbox games(except for wiz 8 which wasn't so much difficult as it was boring to me). Those games are obviously probably harder then anything later but I've always had the impression they mostly act as time sinks.


Off the top of my head the only rpgs I never finished as a kid purely because of difficulty were

Thunderscape(made by ssi, was like a really shitty buggy 3d goldbox game)
System shock 2(I think I only beat this game when I was 16-17)
Hammer & sickle(russian game by the guys who made silent storm) played this at 13-14 and could never come close to beating it.


Maybe another one or two I'm forgetting but those are the ones that stand out. Frankly I thought clearing out the enclave at the end of fallout 2(the concept of leaving your party members behind so you wouldn't get attacked didn't occur to me as a kid) was much more difficult then anything in bg1/2.

 

[Vic]

I should say that I didn’t get hooked on BG2 not because of the difficulty but because I thought it was really dry and creepy, those people in the test tubes still haunt me to this day

 

[JarlFrank]

I played through BG2 at 12 even though I didn't understand D&D rules (didn't have a manual, it was a pirated copy, and games I played before that had higher armor be better so I never equipped armor as it reduced my AC).

Back then I was mostly a pirate, getting my games from a Romanian friend.
The games were in English, and I was nowhere near fluent in the language yet.
We didn't have manuals, just raw burned CDs with the game's installer on them.
We even had to properly install a crack before the game would work!

Yet we managed to finish all these complex RPGs just by intuition alone.

Even modern kids could do it if their parents were less retarded and less helicoptery.

did you use cheats?

I didn't have internet so I didn't even know how to cheat.

 

[smaug]

People who think 10 year olds can't beat games probably didn't play games when they were 10 years old.

I don’t know man, I was dumb as fuck when I was 10. I couldn’t even beat most of my Xbox and Ps2 games and they were designed for children.

 

[SomeGuyWithAnOpinion]

If you think BG2 is bad, try playing BG1

There's a reason Icewind Dale is the only good Infinity Engine game.

 

[Sunri]

I completed BG I when i was 8 those games are not hard it was in Polish tho my brother wanted to kill me after i accidentally overwrote his save lul

 

[Arbiter]

I completed BG I when i was 8 those games are not hard it was in Polish tho my brother wanted to kill me after i accidentally overwrote his save lul

Remember kids, always use multiple save slots.

 

[polo]

I beat BG2 at 12, same situation as jarlfrank, pirated game, no manual, no idea wth d&d was, didn't know shit about the rules, but i did enjoy my shiny spells. I probably beat the game not even knowing how the rules worked for thac0, weapon level and shit.
I must say i probably toned down the difficulty one level, but not sure.

 

[JarlFrank]

People who think 10 year olds can't beat games probably didn't play games when they were 10 years old.

I don’t know man, I was dumb as fuck when I was 10. I couldn’t even beat most of my Xbox and Ps2 games and they were designed for children.

>Xbox and PS2

Ah, a console kid, that explains it

 

[Rhobar121]

Thac0 is stupid and illogical.
Still, I don't know what's so hard about it. When I played bg, I had absolutely no idea about 2e.
It seemed completely wrong to me that better armor gives less defense, so I figured out quite quickly that the less the better

 

[SomeGuyWithAnOpinion]

Thac0 is stupid and illogical.

True, but at the same time, 2ndE is still basically the best edition of DND to have ever existed.

 

[jungl]

The best baldurs gate 2 experience is blind without knowing any of the dnd rules. You pick a class like dwarf barbarian that kites enemies for your wizards fireball. Weeeee it looks cool seeing little man run fast then tank a fireball. This games awesome!

Playing the game with knowledge of rule set and min max mindset. Wow this shit is so unbalanced crap let me just roll a kensai and have this paladin spam dispel to get through this shit game!

 

[Volourn]

Beating games- even hard ones - isn't hard at 10 years old. Afterall, most people gaming 30-40 years ago were my generationish so we were all mostly young. If a 10 year old can deal with games older than BG and their billshit, a mid 90s game was definitely manageable.


I do find it funny when people call a game 'easy' or 'not that hard' then talk about how they died multiple times. Lol If you reloaded, it wasn't that easy. In pnp, no second chances. If you died fighting the guy in front of the inn the game wasn't easy for you. PERIOD.


Beans00 is big example. Claims BG2 wasn't hard. Talks about reloading a bunch. Fukk off, dude. Just own it. It was hard for you. And, creatures needing certain weapons to be hit is a) not cheating b) no more artificial than any other rule and c) should not matter as the game gives plenty of ways to deal with such enemies. Part of the game is dealing with them. So, stop the bullshit.


"I only reloaded 765 times against the kobold in Irenicus' dungeon. It wasn't hard." - Beans00


Lmfao

 

[Beans00]

Beating games- even hard ones - isn't hard at 10 years old. Afterall, most people games 30-40 years ago were my generationish do we were all mostly young. If a 10 year can deal with games older than BG and their billshit, a mid 90s game was definitely manageable.


I do find it funny when people call a game 'easy' or 'not that hard' then talk about how they died multiple times. Lol If you reloaded, it wasn't that easy. In pnp, no second chances. If you died fighting the guy in front of the inn the game wasn't easy fir you. PERIOD.

I never played PnP because all the people who played it seemed like freaks. It was probably even worse in the 80s/early 90s when you were in high school.





When I consider a game hard I think of dr wily in mega man 7, or the hedge maze map in jagged alliance 2. Ie sections of the game or bosses that took me an entire afternoon(or whatever) of reloading.

Dying 3 times doing the naskel mines because of fire arrow crits, or having my party leader randomly insta killed by a mind flayer once isn't 'difficult' unless you genuinely think the only way to call a game easy is to 100% it without dying.